• PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    26
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    10 days ago

    It’s also how flat earthers started. 4chan started satirically memeing about flat earth. Then idiots saw it, missed the satire, and removedd it up as a serious thing. At that point, 4chan went “this is funnier than any satire we could make” and stood back to watch the crazies launch rockets into the upper atmosphere.

    • GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      10 days ago

      Flat earthers have been around (heh) for centuries. It’s mostly a religious thing in order to rebuke science in order to keep people stupid. There’s a passage in the bible that refrences the four corners of the earth that gets refrenced by these people as proof. It’s a way to keep people in their cult, because the outsiders are the ones who are tricked into beleiving in round earth ftom scientists.

        • James R Kirk@startrek.website
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 days ago

          “Shoop da woop” was a popular 4chan meme dating to at least 2006. Also the whole “newfag”, “oldfag” etc thing has been going on since forever.

            • ArxCyberwolf@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              8 days ago

              My dad used to be on 4Chan all the time in the 2000s, he told me being called a fag was considered a form of endearment, not an insult. I’ve never heard newfag or oldfag be used by the far right, they typically go for actual insults instead.

              • GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                8 days ago

                There was definately a tone shift when the site was bought. People were usually mocked if they were actually right wing over there.

              • James R Kirk@startrek.website
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                7 days ago

                “fag” is a homophobic slur that was actually even more hurtful to use back in the early 2000s when LGBT people were a lot less accepted by society than today. That said your Dad is technically correct and it was a “term of endearment” among homophobes on 4chan which was largely comprised of straight white men in college had/has a self-deprecating sense of humor.